Did your life end up anything like you expected, or planned?

[wdfifteen]

Originally Posted by Burnin' oil

I have been accused of apathy my whole life.

Me too. I don't know why they think I care.

[targa911S]

Originally Posted by Gogar

The 17-year old me would think my life is fking amazing, but the 40-year old me doesn't exactly feel the same way.

You were high then...

[IROC]

Originally Posted by masraum

I used to say this all of the time. My wife was always perplexed. Several years back, she told me that it used to baffle her when something would happen and it wouldn't bother me. I always told her "it'll work out", and it always did. She said she found that she had started to think the same way and realized that it did always work out.

Man, this is funny as I am completely the opposite. I'm not quite OCD (some people may argue that ), but I have a plan for everything and would freak out if I didn't have any idea what was going to happen next.

Some people might think that sucks the life out of you, but it is my comfort zone and it has served me well - I wouldn't do it differently if I could do it all over again. I read many of the posts above and I shudder because I could never be carefree and say, "it'll work out somehow"!!!!

[legion]

Let's see...

When I was ten, I always thought I would make a lot of money, build a private army, and invent a power suit...oh, and I'd be a lifelong bachelor.

When I was 15, I didn't care.

When I was 20, I just wanted to maximize my income and minimize my effort, and buy a Porsche.

When I was 25, I was earning good money for the effort, and had a Porsche.

Now I have the same job, don't have a Porsche, and have a 9-month pregnant wife. I really never envisioned this.

[tabs]

Everything happens in its own time and place. Everybody has limitations on what they can do today, so we can only do what we are ready to do. So it is steady as she goes..to push our limit horizon. Another way to put it is that we must learn to walk before we can run.

In the quantitative world I am not a great success. I hold no position of success in the material world. So as Mother keeps on telling me I am a total and abject failure.

However when I was 20 years old I determined that self awareness and having peace of mind was far more important an achievement than all the riches that the all Tea in China could ever bring. For what does it gain a man to gain the world only to lose his soul? That we are in this world for a few scant decades and that material wealth is a poor substitute when it comes to that long dark sleep. So I set off on a journey that I knew was going to take a long while, and I was prepared to put the years on the table.

I am happy to report I achieved that goal quite a number of years back. It is a bit different than I imagined in the beginning. It is far better and richer. The amazing thing is the amount of Personal power I have. I have clarity, the ability to focus and the intellectual capacity to analyze dispassionately those qualitative areas known as the human condition. The advantage this gives one is one knows when to holdem, foldem, bluffem and raisem in any human interaction. It all just becomes a matter of fact. .

[wdfifteen]

Originally Posted by IROC

Man, this is funny as I am completely the opposite. I'm not quite OCD (some people may argue that ), but I have a plan for everything and would freak out if I didn't have any idea what was going to happen next.

Some people might think that sucks the life out of you, but it is my comfort zone and it has served me well - I wouldn't do it differently if I could do it all over again. I read many of the posts above and I shudder because I could never be carefree and say, "it'll work out somehow"!!!!

My SO is like you and it is one of the biggest causes of stress in my life. I have a well developed "Oh well" reflex. Nothing bothers me except being around someone who is tense as a piano wire all the time.

[DARISC]

Never had expectations.
My folks had expectations for me and were disappointed.
They thought I was going to be an astronaut.
They'd ask my school teachers how I was doing;
they told them I was taking up space.

[tabs]

Originally Posted by Superman

Thanks, Steve. It has been said that God's greatest gift to us is our inability to see the future. I agree with this.

"The Circle Game" by Joni Mitchell is one of my generation's most beloved songs.

Interesting you should mention Joni Mitchell. She is the only other person who I have ever heard that describes and or thinks about people and their actions in the same way that I do.

[IROC]

Originally Posted by wdfifteen

My SO is like you and it is one of the biggest causes of stress in my life. I have a well developed "Oh well" reflex. Nothing bothers me except being around someone who is tense as a piano wire all the time.

Oh, I'm not stressed out at all, but that is because I anticipate everything and have a plan for when it does/doesn't happen. I do have trouble being "spontaneous", though. I analyze everything. I fully admit that.

[tabs]

One point. We control nothing, there is only the illusion of control.

[scottmandue]

Oh and my personal life.... always thought I would get married and have children.

Made 50 and still no wife and children... hey, no biggie... look at the money I saved! (though inside I longed for companionship)

Then at 52 met a lady that lives 900 miles away... raised in rural Oregon by Conservative Christian Caucasian patents... a full blood Korean adopted as a baby. I dated a lot over the years but never even remotely though of getting married... and at 50 I was good with the freedom of living the rest of my days on my own.

I can't explain... we finish each others sentences... we don't like all the same things but we don't care about the differences... we just love each other like crazy.

Sure didn't see that coming!

Don't make nearly as much money as I would like... but I have a wife I love, a job, a house and food on the table. I figure if you look at the world population I'm doing better than 90% of the rest.

[IROC]

Originally Posted by scottmandue

I can't explain... we finish each others sentences... we don't like all the same things but we don't care about the differences... we just love each other like crazy.

Then you win!

[billybek]

Originally Posted by legion

.........
Now I have the same job, don't have a Porsche, and have a 9-month pregnant wife. I really never envisioned this.

Congrats, hang on and enjoy the ride! Oh, and go buy a 911 for goodness sake!

[Brando]

When I was a kid I thought I would be a scientist - biologist or chemist.

As I grew up my interests changed to the more technical - programming, wrenching, etc.

Never thought I'd land where I am now. But knowing what I do, it's better to have a steady paycheck, a sandbox to play (with products) and not live off of grant money.

[RedBaron]

It has been very interesting reading this thread. I am 18 and in a month I will be beginning college. I plan on going for computer or electrical engineering. Looking back a few years ago I planned on going to a bit of a better college, but I guess it is all what you make of it.

[svandamme]

Nope, it's all going as planned.. all grown up and doing whatever the F i want.
apart from that pesky work thing , the constant lack of serious cash flow for toys and fun, being single...The not living in a James Bond Mobie like mansion.. Not having a pet Lion etc etc ,

But i do have all the beer i care to or can drink.
So there you go, i'm happy as a pig in the mud!

[nostatic]

Originally Posted by Gogar

The 17-year old me would think my life is fking amazing, but the 40-year old me doesn't exactly feel the same way.

At 17 I figured I'd be dead by 25. In Sept I'll hit 50 and this year i've already played over 70 gigs so I'm actually living what I supposedly wanted to do when I was 17.

Everything comes full circle except when it is more möbius strip...

[Gogar]

Originally Posted by targa911S

You were high then...

Meh. I've never been high. Ever. Maybe that's what I need.

[scottmandue]

You guys have convinced me... I'm taking a ballet classes!

[Superman]

I am:

* White
* Educated
* Rural-raised
* Male
* Educated
* Intelligent (at least that's what Mom tells me)
* Sense of humor
* Curious/inquisitive
* Adventurous
* Not too rich, not too poor
* American
* Musical
* Fairly attractive ('specially in the velvet dress)
* Living in the most interesting moment in human history

As far as I know, I may be the luckiest organism in the history of the universe.

*Thankful